Have abandoned a 55 plate Peugeot 307s 1.6 petrol in a hotel car park where it simply refuses to start, it had been run on a 70 mile journey to the hotel, ran for ten minutes idling and then switched off for five minutes, tried to turn it back on and the ignition just clicks, warning displays illuminate then extinguish as normal, no messages on the info panel but the Emission Control System warning light stays on.

I had something like this on a diesel 307 a few years back and I seem to remember it was expensive, but that was the diesel with expensive additive, this is a petrol version.

Any clues before I ring my friendly Peugeot dealer and tell my friendly salesman what I think of him ?

Starter motor?

Fuel Pump? went on my car and the ignition would turn over and click, but no fuel was going through, First time it was just a fuse which had blown, second time the pump itself was knackered. Or like Dally has said, the starter motor.

If it's the starter motor, hit the casing with a hammer while someone is trying to turn it over. It should start but you'll need to drive it straight to a garage to get a replacement as there's no guarantee it'll start again.

Hmm, I was thinking more in terms of an emissions filter/sensor, but now you come to mention it, there is an invoice in the info pack for a new fuel pump that was fitted a couple of years ago by the previous user.

But - the starter motor would still turn if the fuel pump was knacked...

9.01am tomorrow morning, don't be anywhere near a telephone in Harratts Leeds.

Battery?

Nah, battery's fine, all electrics working perfectly.

Is the ignition dead - ie not trying to turnover? That would be the usual symptom of starter motor trouble. Not sure what the sypmtoms of fuel pump trouble are but I guess it would try to turnover?

Only suggested it because I had a similar-ish problem a few months ago. Had only recently driven, left idling for a while, switched off then tried to switch on and nothing. All the indicator lights came on as normal and I could use all electronics but it wouldn't start the engine. Fortunately I got a jump start and drove it round to the garage where they replaced the battery.

I really have no knowledge of how cars work though so its probably not the battery at all, just sounded similar ish to me!

They could still work fine and the battery still not have enough juice to turn the car over.

Try getting a jump start from someone first but read the handbook on jump starting. Some cars don't like simply being jumped and then having the slave battery disconnected immediately

Leave it there.

Get the daughters to run you around for a change!

A mate of mine had the same problem on his Pug and it turned out to be something called a lamba sensor (something like that) had failed which caused the ECS to shut down and so the car wouldn't start.

A bit late I know , but . Put the keys in your pocket ....unclip the quick-release terminal on the battery . Leave it half an hour . Clip it back on . Lock twice using keyfob . . Leave 5 mins . Then unlock with keyfob and start it and go on your merry way .

Thanks for that, I read something similar on a Peugeot owners web site but didn't understand a word of it, thats a lot simpler, I'm going up there this afternoon to speak nicely to it so I'll try that and if all else fails how much do you charge for a recovery from Otly to LS16 ?

I think my next car might be an old Mk 1 Cortina or possibly an old Landy. With all the bollox surrounding new vehicles, they're simply far too expensive to repair, should a problem occur. Earlier this year I had a soft recall on my Passat, all four injectors and the injector loom were replaced - cost? £3k+. All done under warranty but in five years time, that will be more than the value of the car. Similarly, I replaced a parking brake motor after it burned out in icy conditions, that alone was £250. At least with the Cortina or Land Rover anything I couldn't fix could be sorted by the local blacksmith.

Any news on what the problem is Jerry?

Pft! Well its not the battery although the Peugeot mechanics money was on that.

The good news is that it probably isn't the emission control gizmo as that warning light will stay illuminated simply because the engine isn't running yet.

My guess now is the starter motor because having stood and listened with the bonnet up tonight it does definitely click when the ignition is turned, but nothing else - hit it with a hammer for good luck but that did naff all to fix it.

So its still at the hotel, but the good news is that I called at the Peugeot dealer this lunchtime and they have a car in there that I'd quite fancy, so I'm currently twisting the arm of the salesman who has to date sold me about ten cars, to get me out of this motionless car into the one on his forecourt - and of course they are desperate to sell at the moment, watch this space, tomorrow is when he has to come up with a deal for me.

So tomorrow its back on the bike for me.

Another thought strikes me as an outside bet. our previous Citroen (another french car) used to cut out sometimes - even when driving, which was dangerous. It would sometimes restart after a few minutes, other times hours later. It seemed dead and wouldn't turnover. The garage's diagnostic computer couldn't find anything wrong after several visits (when still under warranty). After about 3 years the fault was found - fuel relay as I recall which was a simple fix and it never went wrong again. I thing we'd even suggested that to them but they reckoned not until they "discovered" it themselves about 18 months later. It was awful - brand new car that could stop in the most awkward of places.

If all you are getting is a click from the starter it might be worth going 'old school' on it . Do the dash lights dim when you turn the key ? It they do then it is lkely to be a starter motor problem .If not then clip a jumplead from negative side of battery to the engine block/lifting eye/exhaust manifold etc , and try again .

Car fixed.

Called local garage out for a recovery or fix-on-the-spot, guy spent half an hour giving it all a good go over.

Blown 20amp fuse.

Could still be an indicator of an electrical problem but as long as it keeps starting for as long as it takes to get it traded in then I'm happy, total cost of call out £37 + vat.

I provided the fuse.

A relief, I'll bet!

Thinking of all the expensive things it could have been - yes.

I'm also glad that I know the sales guy at the Peugeot dealer so well, the recovery garage that he told me to ring are the ones that they (Peugeot) use except for the fact that if I'd told them (Peugeot) to organise a recovery and inspection in their workshop it would have been just a tad more expensive, for a fuse.

Glad you got it sorted, Sounds the same as what happened to me, but like you say, it could mean theres something else going on. It wasn't that long after replacing the fuse that my fuel pump went altogether.

Only just read this.
My money was going on a jammed starter ring gear.
I'd have been wrong then.

Just to cap this off, the same thing happened today after another two hour drive just the same as last week, tried to start it up for the return journey and it was dead again, luckily I'd bought some spare fuses, changed the starter circuit fuse and it started fine.

So I've checked a Peugeot users forum and found that its a known issue with 307s, the car will run on short commutes for the rest of its life but take it on a long run and the chances are you'll pop the fuse when you try and restart it, every post on that forum topic exactly describes what happened to me, some people changed their starter motor to solve it, I've followed the advice of a Peugeot technician and changed the fuse from 20A to 25A.

We'll see what happens.

I like it when cars have foibles, it makes them feel human, its been ages since I had a car with foibles, this one almost grumbles to me every morning.